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THE FROST SPIRIT. 

WORSHIP OF NATURE. 



JOHN G. WHITTIER. 



1 




ILLUSTRATED BY 

LOUIS K. HARLOW. 

BOSTON : 

SAMUEL K. CASSINO. 

Copyright 1892. 



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7^7 



X 



THE FROST SPIRIT. 



He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes ! You may trace 
his footsteps now 

On the naked woods and the blasted fields and the brown 
hill's wither' d brow. 

He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees where their 
pleasant green came forth, 

And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken 
them down to earth. 




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He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes ! — from the frozen 
Labrador — 

From the icy bridge of the Northern seas, which the white bear 
wanders o'er — 

Where the fisherman's sail is stifiF with ice, and the luckless forms 
below 

In the sunless cold of the atmosphere into marble statues grow ! 



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He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes ! — on the rushing 
Northern blast, 

And the dark Norwegian pines have bow'd as his fearful breath 
went past. 

With an unscorch'd wing he has hurried on, where the fires of 
Hecla glow 

On the darkly beautiful sky above and the ancient ice below. 




He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes ! and the quiet 

lake shall feel 
The torpid touch of his glazing breath, and ring to the skaters' 

heel ; 
And the streams which danced on the broken rocks, or sang to 

the leaning grass, 
Shall bow again to their winter chain, and in mournful silence 

pass. 




He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes ! — let us meet him as 
we may, 

And turn with the light of the parlor-fire his evil power away ; 

And gather closer the circle round, when that firelight dances 
high. 

And laugh at the shriek of the baffled Fiend as his sounding 
wing goes by. 



THE WORSHIP OF NATURE. 




"It hath beene as it were especially rendered unto mee and 
made plaine and legible to my understandynge that a great wor- 
shipp is going on among the thyngs of God." — Gratt. 



The Ocean looketh up to Heaven, 
As 't were a living thing, 

The homage of its waves is given 
In ceasless worshipping. 

They kneel upon the sloping sand, 
As bends the human knee, 

A beautiful and tireless band. 
The Priesthood of the Sea ! 



-^ 




They pour the glittering treasures out 
Which in the deep have birth, 

And chant their awful hymns about 
The watching hills of earth. 

The green earth sends its incense up 
From every mountain shrine, 

From every flower and dewy cup 
That greeteth the sunshine. 





The mists are lifted from the rills 
Ivike the white wing of prayer, 

They lean above the ancient hills 
As doing homage there. 

The forest tops are lowly cast 
O'er breezy hill and glen, 

As if a prayerful spirit pass'd 
On Nature as on men. 



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The sky is as a temple's arch, 
The blue and wavy air 

Is glorious with the spirit-march 
Of messengers of prayer. 




The clouds weep o'er the fallen world 

E'en as repentant love ; 
Ere to the blessed breeze unfurl' d 

They fade in light above. 



The gentle moon — the kindling sun — 
The many stars are given, 

As shrines to bum earth's incense on— 
The altar-fires of Heaven ! 




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